Engineering Major — how did you decide?

1/3… Of the band are engineers unless something changed… Let’s keep our facts straight :rofl:

Also many play on their baseball teams etc etc… It’s almost like Engineers are people too? :grin:

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Another artsy engineer here too: S22 is in band/jazz and a natural, untrained artist. He did not get the athletic gene, not one bit :slight_smile: From what I understand, music and math engage the same part of the brain that works with patterns. Then there’s the right brain/left brain integration that NU McCormick likes so much.

Back in the dark ages I went to a college visit, said I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in but said what I liked and what I liked doing and they said “how about electrical engineering with a specialization in biomedical engineering, we have great scholarships in that department” I had no idea what an engineer did. Between that and getting a Society of Women’s Engineering Scholarship I just said “OK” and that was it. Soooo different from today.

There are so many jobs for almost any major in engineering. Building things is only one of them. I started in electrical design, then found I liked control systems, then got offered a job in operations and found my passion. We operated engineering systems, become experts in their operation, write procedures to operated and troubleshoot them, train people to use them, plan the use of them around various constraints. A lot of engineers would hate it but the people we hire love it. Our counterparts build and integrate the parts, test them, etc. Both areas have software developers, or engineers that do some software development.

For my son, he looked at what I did and what other engineers did and said he would hate doing what we did. He loved STEM but not my type of STEM. Hated physics, not crazy about math, loved biology, liked chemistry. So he is in veterinary school. Talk about what she really likes in STEM, what does she want to do (sit at a desk, be out in the field, be in a plant, etc.). That can help too. Best thing is to find other engineers to talk with, if you can find a researcher or college professor to sit with that would be good. I have mentored some young engineers and they are encouraged to look at websites with stories of what it is like to be an engineer at various companies, etc.

As far as the creativity and musical comments. We have a ton of engineers at our work that were in band, I taught piano. I love crafts. About everyone in my office is a crafty person, quilting, paper crafts, stage design for local theater companies, woodworking, refinishing and selling antique furniture etc. Curiosity is a big factor that helps. Curiosity about everything!

Good luck!

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Could be. I have no first hand knowledge. It’s just what our tour guide (student) told us when we asked a general marching band question. I have no way to verify that number personally.

I was just having some fun with you. :grin:It doesn’t really matter but again… Engineers are people also and they do many amazing things at Michigan. From my son’s experience and others I know of they will go out of their way to help your child if they take some initiative. I won’t go into it but my kid had alumni reaching out to him in week 3 of school when he started a student organization. The rumors are true. They are there to help.

Yes for sure. I’m an engineer as is my husband, dad, father-in-law, most of my friends. We all have interests outside of engineering.

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I think the nerd, boring stereotype is turning around. Engineering is finally cool. It always has been but more people are catching on !

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@Scg123 Can I offer an alternative view?

D1 liked art and science. Not involved in summer camp science or engineering camps or math or science Olympiads/clubs. She did take AP physics, bio and Calc. Thought seriously about majoring in fine arts, but ended up majoring in physics. She liked the challenge physics offered. She had a crisis of faith about physics her sophomore year (“I’m not smart enough.”) and took civil and electrical engineering classes her junior year, but wasn’t wowed by them and continued as physics major, eventually taking grad level physics classes as a 5th year senior. Did 3 years of medium energy particle physics research in undergrad, physically built her own experiments and spent a summer automating the entire research lab. (making a whole bunch computerized systems with different OSs and incompatible software “talk” to one another). She’s the kid who pulled the engine out of her car with a hoist so she could change all the timing belts herself. She was the girl who when the car salesman was trying to show the makeup mirror in a car would pop the hood and talk about the power dynamics of the engine. She also rewired all the fluorescent lights in her kitchen.

So what did end up doing? She completed her physics degree, turned down grad school acceptances in biophysics and went to med school. She’s now a emergency medicine physician because there’s a whole lot of problem solving involved and there’s a new puzzle to solve every 10 minutes.

Sounds like your daughter should be a physics major.

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Thanks @WayOutWestMom. I think you are right and appreciate your perspective and encouragement. Physics and physics lab were the best part of pandemic year. And we have a lot of bridges to show for it.